New Programs

It's been a while since we did a program on the music of the America to our south. It's a whole continent, after all, and the scope and variety of music from the distinctive cultures of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil is enormous.

Whether it comes from the mountain cultures, the grasslands, the rainforest, or one of the great cities; is based on influences from the native Indians, or from Spain or other European countries — the music of South America has a depth and passion all its own, and genres like Tango have created fans around the world.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we return to the soul and space of South American music, on a program called ROMANTICO. Music is by OSCAR REYNOLDS, INKUYO, TRIO GARUFA, GUSTAVO SANTAOLOLLA, ASTOR PIAZZOLLA, STEPHAN MICUS, DINO SALUZZI, and EGBERTO GISMONTI.

The slow heartbeat rhythm and cooling electronic harmonies of England's MARCONI UNION. In 2011 they were commissioned to create a piece of relaxing music in collaboration with the British Academy of Sound Therapy. The resulting 8 minute single you're hearing was called "Weightless." Against the odds, it became a worldwide hit.

In fact, the feeling of weightless floating was nothing new for electronic music, with examples going back to the 1920s. When combined with a goal-less, extended style of composition, you have the elements of this transmission of Hearts of Space — an hour of zero-gravity Ambient for inspiring patience, on a program called WEIGHTLESS WAITING.

The inventors of the electric guitar were originally motivated by the need for volume, to compete with drums, brass, and other loud instruments. But it didn't take long for reverb and special effects to transform the electric guitar into a vehicle for space exploration.

Beginning in the 1960s, technically inclined improvisers used tape recorders to create live repetitions, essentially reinventing the Baroque canon, where a musical phrase or melody is repeated at fixed intervals. The need for more portable effects led to the invention of compact tape loop echo processors, and today's electronic "loopers," which make possible a more precise and flexible style of contemplative improvisation.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, recent work in this ambient sub-genre, with another installment of our long-running "space guitars" series, on a program called SPACE GUITARS 12. Music is by JEFF PEARCE, STEVEN GRAHN, CLIVE WRIGHT, HAMMOCK, and introducing PETER JACK RAINBIRD.

The concept of trance has a long and complicated history. Originally "a dazed, half-conscious or insensible condition or state of fear," the meaning has evolved to include many unusual or altered states of consciousness associated with hypnosis, meditation, magic, prayer, addictions, and ecstasy.

Trance states are characterized by repetition, so music is a prime instigator in both ethnic and social cultures, including a high-energy style of electronic dance music.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we ride hypnotic beats into strange realms and magical summer nights, on a program called TRANCEWORLD. Music is by GREEN ISAC, KOUAME SEREBA & ERIK WOLLO, DREAM JUNGLE, ROBERT RICH, LOREN NERELL, LARAAJI, MAX CORBACHO & BRUNO SANFILIPPO.

Underlying the political and religious differences that have provoked centuries of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa is the landscape — an austere region of desert and mountains, transected by great rivers: the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates. This environment, along with centuries of cultural exchange, accounts for a rough musical unity across countries and ethnicities. Thus the music of Turkey, Israel and Palestine has similarities with the Arabic and Berber music of North Africa and the Persian traditions of Iran.

Today, progressive artists working within these traditions have created a Virtual Middle East, a cultural blend that effectively ignores ethnic, religious and political differences, and brings us an image of what a peaceful future in the region might sound like.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, soulful sounds from the Virtual Middle East, on a program called DESERT SOUL. Music is by MICHEL BANABILA, DHAFER YOUSSEF, MARJAN VAHDAT, NIYAZ, ARCHETRIBE, and ANOUR BRAHEM.

The long days and short nights of midsummer are a special time. We retreat from our intense work schedules and attend festivals and celebrations, some crowded and intense, others quiet and restorative. We travel, take vacations, entertain friends and relax on warm summer evenings. As the night deepens, activity fades, and the lulling sounds of nature and warm breezes create a seductive environment, inspiring ambient composers to create poetic images of a soft, nurturing night.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an hour of ambient music for the season, on a program called MIDSUMMER NIGHT 3. Music is by ASCENDANT, DEEPER NET, ISHQ, ALTUS, S7VEN, CLAUDIO CASANUEVA, and RUDY ADRIAN.

The gene-splicing of the centuries-old Indian devotional chant with 20th-century recording technology and electronic instruments gave birth to a new hybrid. It began as a religious folk music tradition called kirtan, "a celebration of spirit through the chanting of sacred names."

Imported from India by adventurous westerners in the 1970s, it evolved into a more complex style: part devotional chant, part western pop orchestration, part expanded ambience. Fueled by the worldwide growth of yoga, in the last 30 years it's attracted a diverse international audience.

For Hearts of Space fans, it may take a bit of extra effort to extract the Ambient experience from the vocal textures and exotic Sanskrit lyrics. But for open-minded, open-hearted listeners, this music offers a sensitive world of authentic grassroots spirituality.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an Ambient devotional journey called ENCHANTING. Music is by DEVA PREMAL & MITEN, MANISH VYAS, JAYA LAKSHMI & ANANDA, SHANTALA, CHINMAYA DUNSTER, JOY, and SACRED EARTH.

Summer...inspires an even more ethereal brand of Ambient electronica. Whether flying or floating on the balmy breezes, the sounds are airy and the movement is light and buoyant. The words we use to describe the moods it creates are superlative: joyous, blissful, ecstatic, delightful — even heavenly. And when it comes to heaven, for some reason we prefer the seventh.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...an ambient-electronic-summer-journey called CLOUD NINE. (Yes, we also number the clouds.) Music is by CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, FANGER & SCHONWALDER, JOHN LYELL, ARIEL KALMA, and DAVE LUXTON.

The unmistakable sound of flamenco...or rather, Flamenco Fusion: a mix of traditional Flamenco and electronics from the German/Spanish group B-Tribe.

From its medieval roots in 8th century Al-Andalus, after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula, the music of the Spanish region of Andalusia has been a cultural melting pot, joining Moorish influences from North Africa, Sephardic Jewish songs and European music. With the addition of Romani gypsy influences in the 18th and 19th centuries, the music we now call Flamenco. with its fiery rhythms, dark harmonies and passionate emotions, was born. It's a genre with a signature ambience and feeling that's attracted devoted fans all over the world.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we return to the sound of Flamenco, on a program called ANDALUSIA 2. Music is by B-TRIBE, JESSE COOK, PRIYO, ARMIK, MURIEL ANDERSON, ADAM HURST, JOSÉ LUIS MONTÓN, ZSOFIA BOROS, and the AL-ANDALUS ENSEMBLE.

If you head southwest out of London by train or automobile, five or six hours and some 350 miles later you'll reach the southwestern edge of Great Britain, and the seaside region known as West Cornwall. There, on a peninsula extending into the Celtic Sea halfway between Ireland and Brittany, in the picturesque village of St. Ives, lives musician MATT HILLIER and his wife and vocal muse JACQUELINE KERSLEY.

It's an unlikely place for one of the most sophisticated Ambient musicians anywhere. Since 1995 under a variety of aliases and since 2002 as ISHQ, Matt Hillier has been releasing his sensitive and harmonious brand of Ambient electronica, inspired by the natural beauty of the Cornish landscape.

As a body of work it has certain qualities in common with the best new age artists of days gone by, combining sounds from nature, ethereal electronic textures, and Middle and Far Eastern influences. Matt describes it as "slow gentle drifting harmonic timeless ambience meditations" and "triptamine astral sound paintings and visionary sonic art." As you'll hear, he's not exaggerating in the slightest.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an ISHQ retrospective inspired by our colleague MIKE G of AMBIENTMUSICGUIDE.com in Brisbane, Australia, on a program called INVISIBLE LANDSCAPES.

New Age music, ladies and gentlemen: famously, a genre with a reputation for well-meaning but insipid music.

Like most stereotypes, it's only partly true. From the beginning in the early 1980s, there were always outstanding and original musicians thrown into the new age category, along with the shall-we-say uninspired. New age filled a need for slow, contemplative environments in a noisy, fast-paced world; it also filled a need in record stores (remember record stores?) for an instrumental music category that wasn't jazz, folk, or classical. It was the first music trend to gain commercial success after the home studio revolution of the 1970s; no wonder it was overrun with mediocre self-released albums.

Despite this history, in the last few years, a number of younger music fans have returned to the genre with open ears and open minds. Classic albums are being reissued, and new compilations of the inspired, the forgotten and the unjustly ignored are being released, along with new work by some of the old masters. There was even a story about the revival in the Sunday New York Times Magazine!

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a program called NEW AGE RECONSIDERED. Music is by IASOS, LARKIN & MICHAEL STEARNS, KITARO, AEOLIAH, SHAJAN, CONSTANCE DEMBY, and STEVEN HALPERN.

The tribal music traditions of Asia, Africa and the Americas stretch back to the mists of pre-history. For perhaps a hundred centuries, music was made with simple, even primitive instruments: flutes, rattles, drums and percussion; lyres, harps and strings; and wind instruments of various sizes and tones. It was an all-acoustic world, where music and instruments evolved slowly.

Then in the late 19th and 20th centuries, electricity and electronics began to transform the world and transform music. First came the telegraph and the telephone, then radio, then recordings, and then the instruments themselves. Guitars and pianos became electric...and then electronic. And finally, purely electronic instruments of dazzling variety and unlimited potential to create new sounds.

After the electronic music revolution of the 1960s and 70s, the entire studio became a musical instrument, and the sound of recordings has never been quite the same. Today, ethnic instruments and genres can be set in new Ambient soundscapes, a fusion of the old world and the new.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, ethnic instruments join electronic ambient, on a program called "ETHNOTRONIC." Music is by TUU, GREEN ISAC, SACRED EARTH, CHINMAYA DUNSTER, MANEESH DE MOOR, ARCHETRIBE, LOREN NERELL & MARK SEELIG, STILLPOINT and MICHEL BANABILA..

Ahhh, the advent of spring. It arrives in fits and starts... a few warm days punctuated by brisk winds and unpredictable storms. In March, we pass the spring equinox and have a bright new season. The trees bud and blossom, and the natural world stirs and awakes. After the constriction and enclosure of winter, it's a time to stretch, breathe deep, and expand.

The Ambient soundscapes of the season are brighter, bolder, larger, with a sense of possibility, even hope. The long winter is past, the joy of spring and the blissful days of summer are at hand.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a journey in the vernal soundscape, on a program called EXPANSION. Music is by DAVID HELPLING & JON JENKINS, PATRICK O'HEARN, JOHN LYELL, ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT, PHILLIP WILKERSON, HAR, and HAROLD BUDD.

The soft melodic rhythms of the first new musical instrument of the 21st century — the Hang (spelled h-a-n-g) from PanArt of Switzerland. It's played with the hands and derived from the steel pan drum, but has been lovingly refined, allowing the player to create melody, rhythm, harmonics and reverberation at the same time. It's a seductive, hypnotic sound that's inspired an international community of players.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we focus on the Hang and the family of steel drums and resonant percussion. We'll ride the quiet grooves to a place where percussion turns contemplative, and rhythm turns to pure sound, on a program called TRANCEDANCE. Music is by JAMES HOOD, LAYNE REDMOND & TOMMY BRUNJES, STEPHAN MICUS, ED MANN, and MATT VENUTI.

The sublime choral music of the Russian Orthodox church: it floats you on a harmonic cloud of sound that can only be called "heavenly." It's a tradition that extends back for over a thousand years in Russia and central Asia. And it became a life-changing experience for the late English composer JOHN TAVENER, who converted to the Orthodox faith and wrote many sacred works influenced by its theology and traditions.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we mark the Christian holiday of Easter with another musical tapestry from our longtime guest producer for sacred and classical spacemusic ELLEN HOLMES, on a program called IKON OF LIGHT.

Here at Hearts of Space we cast a wide net, featuring ambient and contemplative sounds from around the world and across the centuries. It's a mission that leads to exotic experiences, but it's always satisfying to return to our home base in Electronic Ambient. These days, it comes in many styles and varieties and has many names: Downtempo, Chill, Space, Psy-trance, Psybient, Electronica, Atmospheric, Deep Ambient, and more.

Whatever you call it, electronic sound opens up an ethereal world that leaves ordinary acoustics behind. It creates a sonic space for virtual travel, calms the mind, and fuels creative work. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we continue our electronic explorations on a program called ETHERSPHERE.

The Electric Guitar, dear spacefans. It was conceived in the 1930s by jazz musicians as a way to match the volume of big band horns. With the help of LEO FENDER, and artists like BUDDY HOLLY, CHUCK BERRY, and BO DIDDLEY, it evolved to dominate popular music in the 1950s and 60s. And with the help of electronics and controlled substances, it ascended into space in the 1970s — a mission that, like NASA, continues today (with somewhat reduced funding) under the guidance of an international group of dedicated guitar-o-nauts.

Here at Hearts of Space we've been documenting the evolution of the guitar since 1985, from electric to electronic and beyond, with a series called "Space Guitars." We search the starfields and toneworlds for new guitar-o-nauts, and bring you the best. This week: SPACE GUITARS 11.

Every year on the threshold of spring, we celebrate the memory of St. Patrick and the sublime music of the Celtic lands on the western edge of Europe. For folk music fans, it's a visit to one of the key sources of American music; for lovers of the ethereal ballad, it's a deep drink from the well; and for anyone who appreciates fine acoustic music and great vocalists, it's an unending delight. For Celtic music renews itself in every generation, embracing the present while honoring its long and brilliant expression of essential human emotion.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, another journey in the Celtic soundscape, on a program called CELTIC LEGACY 2. Music is by MIKE OLDFIELD, CLANNAD, DAVID ARKENSTONE & CHARLEE BROOKS, KATE PRICE, JOHN DOAN, AINE MINOGUE, and BRIAN KEANE.

We're at the nadir of winter in the Northern Hemisphere...a time when the yearly journey around our native star seems arbitrary and endless. Battered by storms, challenged by cold, starved for light, we have no choice but to wait...for the return of the sun and the bright promise of spring.

It's a trial we repeat in miniature each long winter night, as we turn away from the sun into the cosmic darkness. But while we can escape most of the night in sleep, winter...must be endured. It's a test of fortitude and patience, a confrontation with our own desires for ease and comfort.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...a nocturnal winter journey called THE LONG NIGHT. Music is by JEFF GREINKE, ROBERT RICH, A PRODUCE, STEVE ROACH & KELLY DAVID, SEAN WASHBURN, and NUNC STANS & MYSTIFIED.

As another massive storm disrupts the Eastern United States, there can be no doubt that winter is upon us with all its power. A gray-white tempest of snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain, punctuated by periods of intense cold — winter slows us down and challenges us to maintain our lives in its wake. Music of the northern countries provides a respite, with melodies and harmonies that wrap us in a feeling of warmth and space.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we focus on the piano and strings, on a program called WINTER HARMONIES 2. Featured artists include LUDOVICO EINAUDI, KATHRYN KAYE, KEVIN KELLER, DAVID LANZ, BLOW UP HOLLYWOOD, CHAD LAWSON, DARSHAN AMBIENT, and KETIL BJORNSTAD & SVANTE HENRYSON.

Woodwinds and horns, ladies and gentlemen. Well, to be more precise, woodwinds and brasswinds.

The brass family served an important function in musical history: when compared to most other instruments they were LOUD, and well-matched to drums and percussion when it came to cutting through the competition. Put them together and you have the ever-popular marching band.

Others preferred their music quieter and more subtle. For them, there was a mellower class of woodwinds, including flutes and the reed family: oboes, clarinets, English horns, and one that ran the gamut from quiet to loud, subtle to brash: the saxophone.

It was named for one ADOLPHE SAX, a Belgian-born, Paris-based instrument maker determined to fill the gap between the projection of a brass instrument and the responsiveness of a woodwind. When it was introduced in 1846 there were no less than 14 versions, from tiny to huge. Today only the soprano, alto, tenor and baritone versions are common.

In the 20th century, the saxophone became an instrument of choice for jazz soloists, and from there migrated into mainstream genres like Rhythm & Blues and even Rock. With this history, it takes a very different kind of musician to use it for Ambient music. And that's exactly where we're going on this transmission of Hearts of Space called SAXOPHONIC.

The story of the resonant percussion family is as unusual as it is old. The metallophones — bells, bowls, gongs and cymbals — have been used as ceremonial instruments by the world's religions for centuries, especially in the mountain Buddhist cultures of China and Tibet, and the Christian monasteries of Europe. They make sounds that exist at the borders of the physical and the spiritual: ethereal and psychoactive, calming and stimulating, all at once.

Bells sound particularly right in the cold, clear winter air. The crystalline structures of ice and snow seem to echo the crystalline metals of the instruments. The pure overtones of bells and bowls are the essence of clarity, while the rich harmonic sound fields of gongs and cymbals are like gray winter clouds and fog.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a winter journey for contemplative percussion, on a program called MYSTIC METALS. Music is by HIMALAYAN VOICES, PARADISO & RASAMAYI, KARMA MOFFETT, STEVE BRAND, HAROLD BUDD, RICHARD RUDIS, BRIAN ENO, and DEUTER.

The word comes from the Greek and means "song of praise." From ancient origins in religious ritual, the hymn became a container for humanity's fondest dreams; an elevated vehicle for affirmation, prayer and hope. Simple, emotional, poetic, and spiritual — the hymn is a unifying force.

With this exalted background you wouldn't expect the word "oblivion" — from the Latin to forget, meaning the state of being forgotten, or being completely unaware — would have anything to do with hymns. But when the Southern Ambient/post-rock group HAMMOCK chose a title for their most ambitious recording to date, they used the incongruous, but precise combination OBLIVION HYMNS.

As you'll hear on this transmission of Hearts of Space called OBLIVION HYMNS, we'll discover another kind of oblivion — a rarified realm where music can make you forget your self.

This week a frigid mass of North Pole air spun south and descended on the United States. In addition to sub-zero temperatures, disruption of travel and general misery, it introduced a new phrase to describe extreme winter weather.

We were working on an Ambient electronic winter show and we already had a pretty good title for it, but this new phrase, well, it just blew it away. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a super-chilled winter journey called POLAR VORTEX. Music is by IAN BODDY & ERIK WOLLO, SIMON LOMAX, STORMLOOP, DILATE, TUU, and NETHERWORLD.

The eternally innocent sound of the boy soprano: whether you're Christian or not, it's a sound that floats high and pure, far above our worldly cares.

The boy soprano or "treble" voice has been used in Christian religious music for centuries, especially in England. True fact: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones sang for Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey as a boy soprano!

Since Medieval times, some of the Western world's greatest composers have written music for sacred services. The immersive ambience of great stone churches and cathedrals, the majestic tones of the pipe organ, and the massed voices of the choir and the worship community created the context; from it came a genre of sacred space music, including vocal and instrumental pieces, great liturgical works, and hymns and psalms of sublime beauty. It's a repertoire we come back to every year during the holiday season.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another offering from our longtime guest producer for classical and sacred space music ELLEN HOLMES.

Sacred choral and instrumental classics for the holiday season...on a program called GLORIA.